Category: Ambassadors

North Carolina family meets with their state legislator to discuss the importance of home care in their lives.

Whether you worry about your aging parents’ ability to remember to take their medication on time or you have a medically-complex child that requires 24-7 skilled nursing care, families that rely on home care across the country are feeling the squeeze: There just aren’t enough quality in-home caregivers, and it is quickly becoming a crisis. While more of the general public is beginning to understand the negative impact this is having on our communities, there is much more to be done to mitigate the impending consequences. Together, we can advocate to combat this looming access-to-care crisis.

We’ve read the articles and we know the facts. Home care is the most cost-effective and patient-preferred healthcare setting for individuals and families who want to remain at home. This is true for older Americans who wish to age in place to parents who believe their child should live at home and not be raised in costly institutional settings. Moreover, demand for in-home caregivers will be continue to increase as baby boomers age and better treatments for chronic illnesses and disabilities continue to become more widely available.

If home health care is in high demand, why are we still facing a shortage of available workers? Home care providers struggle to recruit and retain enough quality caregivers to keep up with the growing demand. Because many insurance companies still do not cover in-home healthcare services, many home care providers rely on government reimbursement rates to cover provided services. That is: When a patient is prescribed and authorized for in-home care, the state reimburses the home care provider for delivering that service. The provider relies on that reimbursement rate to not only pay the direct care worker’s wages, benefits, supplies, and training, but also to cover wages and costs for the workers needed to coordinate and supervise in-home staff.

While rates vary widely depending on the service and the state the care is delivered in, there is a dominant trend that contributes to providers’ inability to keep up with demand: State governments’ reimbursement rates are too low to attract and retain the proper, high-quality workforce necessary to deliver this care. And there are several competitors at play: Hospitals and other institutional settings like nursing homes are able to pay workers more because one caregiver can deliver multiple services to multiple people during one shift, so institutions are able to rely on multiple reimbursements to cover employee wages and costs. Additionally, the home care industry faces competition from non-healthcare industries like fast food companies and retailers, which can often pay workers at competitive rates and offer more consistent schedules and other benefits.

While home health care offers one-on-one care to vulnerable individuals at a lower cost, these reimbursement rates have stagnated and fallen past the cost-of-living across many states. Some states, have not addressed reimbursement rates for decades, putting home care providers at even more of a disadvantage when competing for labor. For example, California has not increased its reimbursement rate for Medicaid home nursing services for nearly two decades. Even the most compassionate home care workers who enjoy the personalized nature of home care are leaving the industry for better-paying jobs in neighboring states and in other settings and industries.

Who can resolve this issue? By and large, state governments are responsible for making decisions that affect home care, including reviewing reimbursement rates and adjusting them so that home health care providers can attract the workforce necessary to keep vulnerable state populations at home. While the rates vary in each state, one thing is consistent across state lines: legislators, who are responsible for making these decisions, are under great pressure to keep state budgets in line while making the necessary expenditures to all of the departments, industries, and populations that need the government’s financial support. All too often, other industries’ voices are heard louder, and home health care continues to fall by the wayside.

Is there any good news? Yes: People are beginning to see the problem. Public awareness of the importance of home care and of the impending access-to-care crisis is becoming more widespread. People care about the issue now more than ever before, and people across the country are beginning to realize that, even if it doesn’t affect them now, home care will impact their lives in the future.

Reports, studies, and articles have made information about the home care industry and the widening labor gap more available. Mercer Health Provider Advisory recently created an interactive map that visually depicts the deficit of home health aides and other healthcare workers in specific states and across the US through 2024. Articles have come out in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, and in local news outlets in South Carolina and Rhode Island, among other states.

And the other good news is evident to many: Home care is simply the right choice. Many legislators are aware of home care’s cost-saving potential, especially as home care keeps people out of costlier institutional settings and prevents ER stays and hospital admissions. And while they may understand the advantages that home care offers families in general, not all legislators realize the impact home care has on the families that they directly represent as public officials.

Public awareness isn’t enough. Action is necessary. Studies, reports, articles, and direct lobbying efforts from home care providers and state and federal associations and partnerships have raised the public’s and legislators’ awareness of home care as a service. However, lawmakers’ awareness of home care issues have not yet spurred them into taking action to address stagnating reimbursement rates and providers’ inability to compete for a fair share of the labor market. We must leverage our collective voices by truly showing legislators what home care is, how it impacts us, and what happens if families can’t access care. Legislators must change laws and policies to reprioritize home health care for their constituents.

What can you do? Join the movement. As individuals, we are responsible for telling our elected officials what is important to us and what those we elect to office should prioritize and champion. Advocating for home care is easy: Call your state and federal representatives and senators to request a meeting to discuss home care, or even simply send a letter, an email, or even a Facebook message or Tweet to let them know about what home care means to you. The Hearts for Home Care platform was specifically created to help members of the home care community learn about opportunities to get involved in home care advocacy. There are plenty of ways big and small to get involved, the most important thing is that we share our voices with one unified message: Home care is important to me, and it should be important to you too.

Every day, BAYADA employees, clients, and families use social media to connect with one another, keep in touch with distant friends and relatives, and learn about news and events near and far. But social media has evolved far past the traditional definition of “social.” In today’s world, social media gives the home care community the opportunity to spread public awareness about home care’s impact and the opportunity to more conveniently advocate for better home care laws and policies.

Advocacy simply means communicating to elected officials what home care means to you and how it impacts your everyday life. Because our state and federal lawmakers make decisions that affect home care providers’ ability to recruit and retain quality caregivers to serve our clients and their families, it is important that they are able to connect home care to their constituents’ names and faces. Social media outlets, particularly Facebook and Twitter, allow for members of the home care community to advocate from the convenience of their home or office.

Sharing a video of a family expressing the value that their in-home nurse or aide brings to them and their loved ones, for example, enables other social media users to understand how home care impacts them, their neighbors, and thousands of people across the country. Our Hearts for Home Care platform is designed to share videos, quotes, photos, news, and advocacy opportunities with elected officials and the community at-large.

In addition to this platform, it’s important that members of the home care community—including staff, clients, and family members—are aware of the power they hold at their own fingertips. Getting involved in advocacy through social media is easy, and the more we share our voices the better we can be heard. In addition to following our Facebook and Twitter, you can tell your elected officials what home care means to you in three easy steps:

Like and follow them on social media (the links are right on the page!)

Connect with them regularly: Share Hearts for Home Care’s posts with your legislators, post on their pages about what home care means to you, or message them to ask them about meeting them in-person to talk about the value of home care. You’ll find that their pages will also give you information about news and events like Senior Expos and Town Halls that may be valuable for you, your staff, or your clients.

Social media not only brings people who value home health care together, but it shows those who have not yet needed home health care its value and necessity. It gives our industry a face and a voice and allow our representatives and senators to see that it affects real people in their communities, and it shows our elected officials that our friends and neighbors with special medical needs should be able to receive the care they need in the place the feel the safest and most comfortable–at home. To learn more about how you can be a voice for home care, join Hearts for Home Care today.

Left: Former state senator and current candidate for North Carolina’s 119th district Joe Sam Queen discusses home care with Mike G. Right: South Carolina representative Richard Yow visits Mitchell H. and his family to learn about the benefits of home care in keeping families together.

The southern heat isn’t stopping our advocates from going above and beyond for home care. Recently, Hearts for Home Care has seen an influx of activity from our home care employee advocates, who have been scheduling meetings with legislators, coordinating in-office legislative roundtables, and most importantly, demonstrating home care’s impact by hosting home visits, in which legislators come in to a client’s home. Home visits are the most impactful way to demonstrate the importance of home care to legislators because it gives them a chance to see firsthand how their constituents receive services. When our state decisionmakers see the impact of home care on local residents, they are more likely to support policies that benefit the home care industry.

Last month, BAYADA Home Health Care’s Rock Hill Skilled Nursing Office hosted South Carolina state Representative Richard Yow, who visited his constituent Mitchell H. in Lancaster, SC. Mitchell relies on home care to stay at him with his mother, Tammy, and his son, Allen. Seeing how home care allows Mitchell to watch his son grow and thrive impacted Rep. Yow, who stated, “Spending time with Mitchell’s family puts a different perspective on the state’s home care situation. Its past time that we in South Carolina hold insurance companies accountable and do what we can do to ensure that families wanting to take care of their loved ones at home have the necessary equipment and support to do so.” Rep. Yow even assisted the family in securing a spot at a local summer camp!

Last week, Lee Dobson and service office director Taylor McClure led former senator and current candidate for North Carolina’s 119th district Joe Sam Queen on a visit to client Mike G. Mike, who lives alone with no immediate family in the area, relies on his certified nursing assistant (CNA) Kassie to stay at home. Kassie, who has been with Mike since 2016, said, “Mike has become like family to me. I’m glad I can help him stay as independent as possible.” Queen stated, “It is clear serving folks at their home and out of higher-cost settings is better for the individual and better for North Carolina. Access to health care, including Medicaid, is critical as our state grapples with rising healthcare costs. We should be using our tax dollars wisely to help our citizens while creating quality local jobs and providing that much needed care.”

Hearts for Home Care’s home visit program has been recognized by our federal partners for its effectiveness in demonstrating the impact home care has to state legislators. Recently, the Partnership for Quality Home Health (PQHH), asked us to begin a federal home visit campaign to further educate our representatives and senators in Congress on home care’s effectiveness in keeping residents safe and independent at home. In addition to the above mentioned home visits, Hearts for Home Care advocates have conducted additional home visits in North and South Carolina, and home visits in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

It is clear how impactful home visits can be in influencing our legislators’ perception of home care. To learn about how you can get involved in advocacy and how you can plan a home visit, email advocacy@bayada.com today!

From home visit to house bill: Christine’s advocacy efforts lead to a bill introduction!

Pictured: Christine Detweiler (left) poses with fellow home care advocates and state Representative Craig Staats during The Pennsylvania Home Care Association’s Advocacy Day

Pennsylvania Hearts for Home Care Ambassador Christine Detweiler has always been a diligent advocate, but recently, her efforts have proven that home care employees can truly go beyond the call of duty for clients and staff by serving as their voices in our state capitals.

“Home care is important to so many Pennsylvanians, and many aren’t as readily able to meet with legislators to share their stories,” said Christine. “I see advocacy as an extension of why I do what I do as a home care employee: We need to make sure we get out there to be a voice for those who don’t have one!”

Christine has been progressively adding more interactions to her advocacy portfolio—Over the past year-and-a-half she focused on meeting legislators in their district offices, and in the past few months she has hosted multiple home visits. Home visits are the most impactful way to demonstrate the importance of home care to legislators because it gives them a chance to see firsthand how clients receive services. To say Christine’s home visit resonated with Pennsylvania state Representative Marguerite Quinn is an understatement.

A few months ago, Christine led the representative on a home visit with five-year old client Gideon M. who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). His mother shared their heartwarming story and opened up about their family’s challenges and Gideon’s ever-growing needs. Her story impacted the representative so deeply that shortly after the visit, Rep. Quinn emailed Christine to further assess the family’s needs and determine how she could help them obtain a transportation cart that would make Gideon’s care easier. The outreach didn’t stop there.

Rep. Quinn recently reported to Christine that she has arranged for a builder to come into the family’s home to build custom doors to create a private area for Gideon downstairs. She also reported that she contacted a rotary to find out if the family can be provided with a generator so that they do not need to constantly worry about their home’s power going out. It is truly remarkable how Christine’s efforts have impacted her client and his care.

In addition to her efforts for Gideon’s family, Rep. Quinn recently introduced a bill that would add SMA screening to the newborn screening list to help diagnose this disease before a child is even born. As of today, the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Bill (HB 2484) has been introduced and placed in the Health Committee for consideration. Representative Quinn reached out to her House colleagues and asked for co-sponsors for the important resolution and to bring awareness to this condition and to assist families across Pennsylvania with early intervention. We are looking forward to this bill passing through committee once legislators are back in Harrisburg.

The Hearts for Home Care Team can’t be prouder of the impact that Christine has made! Her passion and tenacity has reached the hearts of many legislators, and she is truly making a name for herself in Harrisburg as a tireless advocate!

To learn more about how your office can host a home visit, or ways you can get involved with advocacy on behalf of all home care staff and clients, email advocacy@bayada.com today.

Rep. Marguerite Quinn’s home visit with a five-year old client with SMA led her to introduce a bill about newborn screening for the disease!

Our family relies on in-home caregivers to keep Matthew and Maxwell safe and comfortable at home

“I’m sorry. I love caring for your sons, but I have to leave this job so I can provide for my own family.” It’s a message I’ve heard far too many times in the past six years. While home care provides our family with the ability to live together under one roof, the lack of available, quality in-home caregivers in South Carolina threatens our access to care.

Our boys Maxwell and Matthew both have Pelizaeus-Merzbacher’s disease, which means they are wheelchair-bound, unable to stand, sit, or walk on their own, and they must be fed, clothed, and bathed by a capable adult, which makes caring for them more complex than simply hiring a babysitter.

The home care services we receive through South Carolina’s Medicaid program enable me and my husband to get the boys to doctors’ appointments, sleep for more than a few hours at a time, and work outside the home providing for our family while our boys receive the specialized care they need.

A career in home care requires compassion. It takes a special person to do this job that literally keeps families together. If we didn’t have this support, we would not be able to care for our sons on our own and they would have to be placed in an institutional setting. However, there comes a time when all of the compassion in the world can’t pay the bills. If a home health aide can get paid more in retail or fast food, why would they choose a lower-paying job in my home that can be more physically and mentally draining?

They need to be able to make enough to support themselves and their families too. I would not expect the most compassionate and capable aide to stay in a position that forces them into missing their next mortgage payment or rendering them unable to feed their own family.

No matter what level of compassion a person has, fewer people want to be aides because the pay isn’t enough to match the effort and stress of the job. Our current caregiver is an amazing and trustworthy person. I can’t put into words how much this eases my and my husband’s daily anxieties about our sons’ care and truly makes our marriage, our parenting, and our daily lives much more consistent and predictable. But if something comes up and she cannot come to our home one day, it sets off a series of complications. Likely, I have to call out of my job too because there just aren’t enough aides available for providers to staff call-out cases. This impacts my job and threatens our ability to complete the day-to-day necessities that supporting a family requires, including taking the boys to their doctors’ appointments, grocery shopping, and caring for myself.

What I’m trying to say is, we as a society do not match up the value of caregivers and what we pay them. For many families like ours, these caregivers provide a lifeline that allows us to keep our family together. With South Carolina’s Medicaid reimbursement rates for these services being where they are, there’s no way that home care providers can compete with the Walmarts and the Chick-Fil-As of the world.

I wish all caretakers were paid a million dollars, if only so that the industry can attract more compassionate, quality aides to the positions. Though this isn’t realistic, it is not enough to simply cross our fingers and hope that enough compassionate caregivers stick around to care for our vulnerable populations—not only special needs children, but also the elderly to keep them in their communities and out of nursing homes. We need to adjust our priorities to value home caregivers for what they provide to society at-large as well as the families who depend on it.

Maxwell, Brandon, Matthew, and Haley Keisler rely on home care to keep Maxwell and Matthew safe at home.

Meet the Keislers! Brandon and Haley are just like many parents—they value quality time together, they care about who is around their children and how they are learning, and their sons are their number one priority. But one thing sets the Keislers apart from most families: Their sons both have Pelizaeus-Merzbacher’s disease (PMD), and they rely on home care to keep Maxwell and and Matthew safe and comfortable, together at home as one family. But the shortage of home health workers has affected the Keislers and their sons’ care over the past six years.

The Keisler sons are able to stay at home because they qualify for in-home services through South Carolina’s Medicaid waiver programs. They are wheelchair-bound, unable to stand, sit, or walk on their own, and they must be fed, clothed, and bathed by a capable adult. Their personal care aides help them with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, toileting, and dressing.

“Home care enables our family to stay together, and enables us all to maintain normal lives despite our unique conditions,” said father Brandon. “Without our aides, we would not be able to work outside of the home to provide for our sons, and we certainly would not be given the flexibility to be able to go grocery shopping, take them to their doctor’s appointments, or maintain a normal sleep schedule. These kids are incredible, and the least they deserve is to grow up at home as a family like other kids.”

Max and Matthew’s mom, Haley, points to pitfalls that the home care industry faces. “If an aide calls out, that means one of us has to call out from work that day. There aren’t enough quality aides to keep up with the demand,” she said. “Although Max and Matt have physical limitations, mentally they are normal like you and me. They need to be stimulated so that they can continue to learn and grow. We need aides who are truly compassinate and caring. But it’s hard to find quality aides because they are constantly leaving to go to better paying jobs. In the past six years, many of our caregivers have left, and this creates a revolving door for our family and leaves gaps in our coverage.”

Brandon and Haley have experienced multiple agencies discharging their sons from services due to lack of staff. “We are finding it more difficult to find home care agencies that provide personal care services to the pediatric population. From what we have been told, it’s mostly due to the state’s low reimbursement rates,” explained Brandon.

The issues lies in South Carolina’s current reimbursement rate for Medicaid personal care services. The state reimburseses providers for their home care services, and that reimbursement rate must cover aides’ wages, training, supplies, and other overhead costs. Though the bulk of the reimbursement rate goes directly to the aide’s wage, it is not enough to compete with fast food and retail settings, where their starting minimum wages often vastly exceed reimbursement rates. If more and more aides continue to leave the profession, South Carolinians and others like the Keislers throughout the country will not have access to the in-home care that keeps their family together and keeps their sons out of institutional settings.

“Currently, we have a great personal care aide who loves what she does, loves our boys, and rarely calls out. When we leave the house, we know the boys are in good hands, and that allows me to be able to focus at my job. We know she does it for all the right reasons, but also needs to pay her mortgage and care for her family. We are hopeful our lawmakers can see the benefits of having personal care aides in the home. We feel she deserves to make a million dollars! Although we know that is not realistic, we need help from our legislators to keep her in our home. An increase in the reimbursement rate for personal care services will allow her and many others to do what she loves to do–care for our boys when we are not there to be able to,” said Haley as Brandon nodded in agreement.

This issue is so important for the Keislers because they know their sons will need personal care services throughout their lives, and they have even begun advocating for their issues. They recently joined the South Carolina Home Care & Hospice Association at their annual Legislative Day and brought Maxwell and Matthew along to their meetings with Representatives Jimmy Bales, Terry Alexander, and Roger Kirby. When asked if he had a message for legislators, Brandon said, “What a special day for all of us! We truly thank you all for what you do. We know being a lawmaker is also not the easiest job, but supporting South Carolina’s personal care aides and supporting home care truly makes a huge different in our and many others lives.”

To support home care and prioritize it over institutional care, legislators in South Carolina and in other states can support a Medicaid reimbursement rate increase for personal care and skilled nursing in-home services. Increased rates allow providers to pay caregivers higher wages, which enables them to recruit and retain more quality caregivers and prevent workers from leaving the profession for retail and fast food settings. This in turn will allow more individuals and families to access home health care and remain in their homes and communities.

To learn more about how home care, how it benefits your constituents, and how providers struggle to recruit and retain quality caregivers due to low reimbursement rates, please email advocacy@bayada.com

Relying on a communication device to speak does not stop Mark from being a fierce advocate for disability rights and for the many individuals across the US that, like him, rely on in-home caregivers.

Pictured: Disability rights advocate Mark Steidl (center) joins the Pennsylvania Homecare Association’s Advocacy Day in Harrisburg to tell legislators about what home care means to him. He is pictured here with BAYADA Home Health Care Associate Kimberly Gardner (left) and CEO David Baiada (right).

On May 22, Mark Steidl and his mother Tina joined hundreds of Hearts for Home Care advocates in Harrisburg, PA to express to legislators the importance of home care and of its impact on the thousands of Pennsylvanians that are able to remain safely at home with their families due to in-home services.

Not only is Mark an advocate, but his goal is to complete his Associate’s Degree in Social Work coursework, go on to obtain his bachelor’s degree, and eventually serve in a case management position so that he can continue to help others with disabilities. Mark, who is 23 and diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, uses a Dynavox to communicate. Mark operates the device by using the switches that are affixed to his wheelchair at either side of his head. The Dynavox allows Mark to type out what he wants to say, and then the device’s speakers enable Mark to communicate out loud.

During their time in the state capitol, Mark and his mother met with Senator Jay Costa, Representative Paul Costa, and Representative Ed Gainey, who represents Mark’s district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. To prepare for the day, Mark used his Dynavox to create a message that he would share with each legislator. Mark found it important to not only advocate for himself, but for his caregivers. In addition to advocating for three key issues that PHA outlined as legislative priorities for the home care industry in Pennsylvania, Mark’s speech included the following:

“At home and in the community, I have personal care assistants who help me with various physical things. These assistants are very important to me, as they are to any person who needs one-on-one help, whether people with disability or older people. These aides enable us to live at home and avoid having to go to nursing homes.

“I am advocating today on behalf of home care providers who make it possible for us to have high-quality homecare services… When I think of my priorities as an individual with a disability, my first priority is my health and how it affects my life. But helping people maintain good health should also a priority for society.

I am pleased to be here today because you make decisions that affect people with disabilities and older adults. You have the power to create positive change and to enable people to live good lives!”

When Hearts for Home Care asked Mark to tell us why he advocates, Mark used his Dynavox to tell us:

“I consider myself an advocate for myself and for other people with disabilities. My disability is visible, and many people are likely to underestimate me and not see the person that I am. I have to challenge society’s perception each and every day.

I have to tell people when I first meet them why I use a wheelchair and communication device to talk. I have to explain cerebral palsy. People often wonder how I do school work without the use of my hands, so I have to explain that also.

All of us with disabilities have abilities and accomplishments, but we have to advocate for ourselves in order to create our place in the world.

The efforts of many dynamic leaders, innovators and activists affect our lives every day. The things I do every day would have been impossible 30 or 40 years ago. Before the changes in education laws that occurred in the 1970s, I would have been considered too disabled to attend public school, let alone Community College of Allegheny County. Thirty years ago – before the advent of electronic communication devices, I would not have been able to communicate with you. If I had been born in 1965 instead of 1995, my parents might have been told to send me to an institution instead of raising me at home with all the support I need. Times have really changed. Advocacy and new ways of thinking have created those changes.

But much more needs to be done and much more can be done. We have to keep advocating for the changes and the opportunities we want.”

Mark is an inspiration to many of his peers, and to many who understand the importance of sharing their voice on behalf of others. For ways you can advocate for yourself, your loved ones, and your community at-large, please emailadvocacy@bayada.com.

South Carolina State Representative Garry Smith (R, District 27) visited a local family in his district to learn how his constituents and many South Carolinian families rely on home care to keep their loved ones together at home and out of more expensive settings. Rep. Smith is one of the many legislators that Hearts for Home Care advocates bring into home care clients’ homes to show them how federal, state, and local policies affect home care recipients and their families.

During his visit, Rep. Smith met 21-month old BAYADA Home Health Care client Emma Ferguson, Emma’s mother Gina, and Emma’s in-home BAYADA Nurse Danielle Rian. Emma was born with a Chronic Lung Disease of Prematurity, which causes Emma to experience severe breathing problems, pain, and other symptoms. At her young age, Emma has already had several surgeries and currently still requires use of a Gastrostomy-Jejunostomy (G-J) Tube to assist with her feedings and medication management throughout the day. At birth, state Medicaid authorized Emma to receive private duty nursing (PDN) services in her home so that Emma can remain safely and comfortably at home with her mother.

In March, Emma’s PDN services were terminated when Medicaid determined that her skill level no longer qualified her to receive care in her home. From March until May, Emma attended a local day care facility for children with complex needs so that her mother could continue to work. During this time, Emma was hospitalized on several occasions and required ventilator support due to respiratory illness. In May 2018, Emma’s mother Gina reapplied for PDN services, and Emma was able to start receiving care at home again. Emma currently receives 32 hours of PDN services in her home, and since the reauthorization, she has not been readmitted to the hospital.

Emma’s mother Gina stated, “I’m grateful Rep. Smith was able to visit our home to see how Emma and other medically-complex children can grow up and thrive with in-home nursing. These kids deserve some normalcy in their lives, and I have seen first-hand how much better she does when she can be with me at home rather than in an institution. She only receives 32 hours a week, and this allows her to receive the care she needs in the best place–her home–and allows me to be able to work to support my family.”

After the home visit, Rep. Smith said, “visiting sweet Emma and her family has opened my eyes to what home care means to my constituents and to the many South Carolinians who depend on Medicaid home care to stay with their families and out of higher-cost settings. I look forward to exploring ways we can help keep families together while at the same time effectively managing the state’s budget.”

“One-on-one nursing services have allowed Emma to remain safely at home under the Medically Fragile Children’s Medicaid Nursing Waiver. This program is an alternative to nursing home placement at a lower cost to the state,” said Melissa Allman, Hearts for Home Care advocate and Director of Government Affairs for BAYADA. “In-home nursing care helps minimize deterioration and can prevent costly hospitalizations as staff can address subtle changes in the medical condition before it becomes serious. I hope that more legislators continue to learn about how cost-effective these services are to the state, and how valuable they are in keeping South Carolinian families together.”

Home visits like this one really give elected officials a better understanding of how their decisions on key issues like Medicaid impact real people who are seeking to remain safely at home with their families. To find out ways in which you can participate in a home visit with a local legislator, or other ways you can advocate, email advocacy@bayada.com.

Home care employees, clients, and families participate in Advocacy Day in Harrisburg, PA

Last Tuesday, May 22, more than 200 home care employees, clients, and clients’ family members came together with the Pennsylvania Homecare Association (PHA) for their annual Advocacy Day in Harrisburg, PA. Advocates came from a variety of agencies and backgrounds across the state to discuss the importance of home care with their legislators.

Advocates met with more than 200 legislators to educate them on the need for deemed eligibility to allow more of Pennsylvania’s seniors to remain at home, increasing pay for home care workers, and the importance of maintaining strict hiring standards within the home care industry. Advocates used their passion and first-hand experience to demonstrate the necessity of these initiatives to legislators and made lasting impressions through their stories.

And advocates’ hard work paid off! During PHA’s press conference, Rep. Stan Saylor, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, stated that he would support a rate increase for Medicaid personal assistance services (PAS). Additionally, PHA has been in touch with staff from the Senate Appropriations and Health Committees about bringing deemed eligibility legislation to the Senate floor for a vote.

Advocacy is a vital part of a democracy and allows for legislators to hear about issues their constituents routinely face from a different perspective. Through BAYADA Home Health Care’s Hearts for Home Care Ambassador Program, BAYADA employees are educated on the issues facing their states, strategies to advocate effectively for home care staff and clients, and the tools necessary to make a lasting impression.

Advocacy is just another way of ensuring the highest quality care is provided to those who need it. Below, please find quotes from some of those who attended this year’s Advocacy Day on why they chose to participate, as well as a reaction from Pennsylvania State Representative Donna Bullock.

“When I was approached several years ago to be a Hearts for Home Care Ambassador, I was hesitant. There is so much about politics I don’t understand, but what I do believe in is what we do at BAYADA! We have such an amazing opportunity to be the voices for those who don’t have them and if we believe in what we are speaking too, it’s really not that hard! Advocacy, to me, just means I’m standing up for what I believe in and sharing it with those who have the ability to make change.” –PA Hearts for Home Care Ambassador Christine Detweiler

“Advocacy in home care is really about our government representatives seeing the faces and hearing the voices of the people. These interactions help legislaotrs know what our needs are so they can do their best to help my family and the many other families who need a nurse or an aide at home.” –Amy Zemek, Mother of client Alexa D.

“What I found special about attending Advocacy Day in Harrisburg was that the real people we serve every day did not need to rely on anyone else to tell their story. They were allowed to advocate for themselves. We just need to listen more and allow their powerful story to speak loud and clear. Advocacy Days allow those we serve the opportunity to tell their powerful story and for our elected officials to hear and listen to their stories, because those we serve can often advocate for themselves far better than we can.” –Home Care employeeJarod Champeaux

“What is advocacy to me? Advocacy is the look on the faces of the people we serve, the love, the commitment, and the lives we change by the amazing work that we do!” -PA Hearts for Home Care Ambassador Candice Proctor

“Affordable healthcare is a top priority of mine and is critical in safeguarding the well-being of our communities. I share BAYADA’s Home Health Care’s passion and devotion to ensuring anyone who qualifies for home care service receives the proper treatment they need and deserve. I thank them along with the many other advocates for traveling all of the way to Harrisburg to fight for our cause. Together, we can instill change, protect families and achieve our goals.” –State Representative Donna Bullock, 195th District

Thank you to the many home care employees, clients, and families that participated in Advocacy Day!

Katie Beckett’s parents advocated for better home care regulations, resulting in the creation of the Katie Beckett Waiver.

President Ronald Reagan meets Katie Beckett, along with her parents, Julia and Mark Beckett, on the tarmac of Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport on September 20, 1984

Today, May 18, marks the sixth anniversary of Katie Beckett’s death. Katie, namesake of the well-known Katie Beckett waiver, was able to live at home due to her parents’ commitment to advocating for better home care policies.

Former secretary of health and human services Kathleen Sebelius called Katie “an inadvertent pioneer in the civil rights movement for people with disabilities” and the inspiration for regulations that have allowed more than 500,000 disabled children to live at home since 1981.

Four months after her birth in 1978, Katie contracted viral encephalitis, leaving her partly paralyzed and with lifelong respiratory difficulties. Her parents, who wanted desperately for Katie to live as normal of a life as possible at home, found themselves in bureaucratic limbo. Katie qualified for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), but if she had been taken home, her parents’ incomes would have caused her to lose that eligibility. Yet her hospital care was topping $12,000 a month—six times the cost of home care.

At a news conference in November of 1981, then-President Ronald Regan cited Katie’s case as an example of federal regulations that, though more expensive for taxpayers, force Katie and other medically complex children to stay in institutional settings even though she could be cared for effectively at home.

At the time of the conference, Katie was 3 years old and had been hospitalized since almost birth. The day following the news conference, then-secretary of health and human services Richard S. Schweiker waived federal rules to allow Katie to return home without the loss of federal support.

Secretary Schweiker also created a review board to handle similar cases. Seibelius said that “thanks to her mother, Julie’s, tireless advocacy…Medicaid policy fundamentally shifted” toward supporting home health care.

Home care worked for Katie, and for many others like her that thrive in a home environment surrounded by family and in-home caregivers that give her the proper amount of support. Despite needing nursing care five times a week and 12 hours a day on a ventilator, Katie graduated from Mount Mercy University in 2001 with a degree in English and creative writing. She also held several jobs over the years, including one as a secretary in a homeless shelter. At the time of her death, Katie was 34 years old—more than three times the age her doctors had predicted she would reach.

The Becketts’ advocacy not only allowed Katie to live a safe home life with comfort and dignity, but resonated around the country. The lasting effects of their commitment to their daughter’s well being have allowed for hundreds of thousands of disabled children to come home from the hospital. BAYADA Manager of Client and Family Advocacy Tara Montague is fortunate to raise her medically complex daughter, Mary, at home due to the Katie Beckett waiver, which is called the Community Care Waiver in her home state of New Jersey.

Tara says, “I am forever grateful to Katie Beckett and her parents. Because of their advocacy, my husband and I were able to bring our daughter home after two months in the NICU, and with home care, she’s been able to remain home with us for the past 20 years.”

If you are hesitant about sharing your voice and advocating for better home care policies, please think of Katie, her family, and their work, which has had a lasting effect across the United States. To get involved, please email advocacy@bayada.com today.